HYDERABAD: In further jolt to the Congress in Telangana, yet another sitting legislator, Kandla Upender Reddy from Palair constituency in Khammam district , announced his decision to join the TRS.Upender will be the sixth Congress legislator to walk over to the TRS in the last two weeks, bringing its numbers down from 19 to 13 in the state Assembly With his exit, the Congress is on the verge of being further decimated after the drubbing it received in the recent assembly elections. If one more Congress MLA quits, as the TRS is banking on, it will be considered a split and the anti-defection law will not apply. And if two MLAs leave, the Congress would even lose its Leader of Opposition status in the Assembly.Announcing his resignation from the Congress and intention to join the TRS in a written statement, Upender Reddy said he was happy with chief minister KCR’s keen interest in development of Khammam district and the fast work on Sita Rama lift irrigation project. “If needed, I will resign from the Congress and contest as TRS candidate,” he said in his statement.The announcement came after Upender met TRS working president K T Rama Rao on Thursday afternoon. Upender had defeated TRS candidate and former minister Tummala Nageshwar Rao in Assembly elections.Upender’s exit comes a day after Sabitha Indra Reddy met KCR and made clear her decision to join the TRS. Her son Karthik Reddy, an aspirant for the TRS ticket from Chevella Lok Sabha constituency, told the media after the meeting with the CM that he, his mother as well as two brothers would join the TRS soon at a public meeting in Chevella.Earlier, Rega Kantha Rao (Pinapaka), Atram Sakku (Asifabad), Haripriya Naik (Yellandu) and C Lingaiah (Nakrekal) had quit Congress for TRS. With Upender’s entry, this will be only the second time that TRS will have representation from Palair, a Congress citadel. Palair has elected Congress candidates nine times. In the 2014 elections, former Congress minister Ramireddy Venkatreddy had won the seat defeating Swarna Kumari of TDP. After his death, TRS candidate Tummla Nageswara Rao won in the bypoll, only to be defeated by Upender Reddy in 2018.Meanwhile, Khammam TRS MP P Srinivas Reddy, who held a meeting with his followers on Thursday, reportedly said that he would not leave the party even if he was not renominated from the constituency for the LS polls. He had won the seat in 2014 on YSRC ticket defeating TDP’s Nama Nageswara Rao , but subsequently he joined the TRS.

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